Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft #1 of 4

Taking authors and making them into a character within their own universe is fairly common these days. It has its pros and cons. If you're a big fan of the writer and familiar with their works, then its a match made in heaven. However, it can be infuriating because outsiders won't be able to pick up on all the nuances. Luckily for the creators of this comic, Lovecraft created such a rich and wonderful world, outsiders don't need to know every little detail to enjoy the story. For example, you don't necessarily need to know what the Necronomicon is, but just to know that it leads to bad stuff suffices. Which, by the way, it usually always does.

The Strange Adventures of HP Lovecraft opens with the origins of the Necronomicon. We are then introduced to the writer HP Lovecraft, who is struggling with writers block. After an unfortunate revelation regarding his love interest, Lovecraft is attacked by a couple sailors. Too bad for them, Lovecraft is the "key and the guardian of the gate." This statement doesn't make much sense on its own, but when the Necronomicon mystically pronounces you're the "key and the guardian of the gate," that's usually always bad.

I'm a big fan of Lovecraftian monsters. One of the reasons I love them is because of the visual possibilities they inspire. Lovecraftian monsters usually defy human comprehension, are huge, epic, impose madness, and destructive. Take for instance the scene in Hellboy where Hellboy releases the monsters from their prison, or the scene in the Mist when Tom Jayne's character is driving by towering monsters - awesome.